Why the Crisis of Confidence?
‘CAN you really trust anyone nowadays?’ You may have heard some frustrated individual ask this question. Or you may even have asked the question yourself when emotionally troubled over a turn of events in your life.
Undeniably, there is a worldwide lack of confidence in institutions and in other people. Oftentimes, this lack of confidence is justified. Does anyone really expect most politicians to keep all their preelection promises? A 1990 survey of 1,000 students in Germany indicated that whereas 16.5 percent of them were confident that politicians could solve world problems, twice as many expressed strong doubts. And a majority said that they lacked confidence in the ability of politicians to solve problems as well as in their willingness to do so.
The newspaper Stuttgarter Nachrichten complained: “Too many politicians have first their own interests in mind and then, just possibly, those of their voters.” People in other countries agree. The newspaper The European said of one land: “Youth’s cynicism towards the politicians is well founded and shared by their elders.” It noted that ‘the electorate regularly throws the political parties out of office.’ The newspaper further said: “Anyone spending time among young people [there] is immediately struck by their lack of confidence and sense of dislocation.” Yet, without public confidence, a democratic government can achieve little. Former U.S. President John F. Kennedy once noted: “The basis of effective government is public confidence.”
As to confidence in the world of finance, sudden economic reversals and get-rich-quick schemes turned sour have caused many to be hesitant. When world stock markets fluctuated wildly in October 1997, a newsmagazine spoke about “a raging and sometimes irrational lack of confidence” and about “the no-confidence contagion.” It also said that “confidence has been so drained [in one Asian country] that the very existence of the regime . . . seems threatened.” In summary, it stated the obvious: “Economies rely on confidence.”
Religion is also failing to inspire confidence. The German religious journal Christ in der Gegenwart sadly comments: “The level of confidence placed in the Church by the populace continues to fall.” Between 1986 and 1992, the number of Germans with much, or at least a good measure of, confidence in the church fell from 40 to 33 percent. In fact, in former East Germany, it dropped to below 20 percent. Conversely, people who had little or no confidence in the church grew from 56 to 66 percent in what was formerly West Germany and to 71 percent in the former East Germany.
A drop in confidence has become apparent in fields other than politics, finance, and religion—the three pillars of human society. Another example is law enforcement. Loopholes in criminal codes, difficulties in administering the law justly, and questionable court decisions have seriously shaken people’s trust. According to Time magazine, “the frustrations of citizens and police have reached a point of no confidence in a system that repeatedly puts dangerous felons back on the street.” In the face of charges of police corruption and brutality, confidence even in the police has plummeted.
Regarding international politics, aborted peace talks and broken cease-fires point up a lack of confidence. Bill Richardson, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, put his finger on the main stumbling block to achieving peace in the Middle East, saying simply: “There is a lack of confidence.”
Meanwhile on a more personal level, many people lack confidence even in close relatives and friends, the very ones that humans normally turn to for understanding and comfort when they have problems. It is much like the situation that the Hebrew prophet Micah described: “Do not put your faith in a companion. Do not put your trust in a confidential friend. From her who is lying in your bosom guard the openings of your mouth.”—Micah 7:5.
A Sign of the Times
German psychologist Arthur Fischer was recently quoted as saying: “Confidence in society’s development and in one’s personal future has actually dropped dramatically on all fronts. Young people doubt that society’s institutions can help them. Their confidence goes to the point of nonexistence, whether it be political, religious, or any other organization.” It is no wonder that sociologist Ulrich Beck speaks about a “culture of doubt” toward long-standing authorities, institutions, and experts.
In such a culture, people tend to withdraw, to reject all authority, and to live according to personal standards, making decisions independent of counsel or direction from others. Some become overly suspicious, possibly even inconsiderate, when dealing with those they feel they cannot trust anymore. This attitude promotes an unhealthy climate, such as described in the Bible: “In the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5; Proverbs 18:1) Truly, today’s crisis of confidence is a sign of the times, a sign of “the last days.”
In a world suffering a crisis of confidence and teeming with people like those described above, life cannot really be enjoyed to the full. But is it realistic to think that things will change? Can today’s crisis of confidence be overcome? If so, how and when?